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Saturday, July 27, 2013

It's time to take a minute and salute Gary. This is a very special person for me. Gary hired me in 1983 when I met him in Paris. I was a wide-eyed fan back then, totally awestruck at the opportunity to work at TSR. He truly was a really good guy: simple, friendly, and with a great sense of humor. I remember how proud he was showing me the latest games at the time, which included Star Frontiers and Gamma World if I recall correctly. That is an evening I'll never forget as it became a life-changing event for me. Shortly afterward, I ended up at the toy fair in Nuremberg. The sound of TSR's video running in the background of our booth still rings in my ear: "We are the game wizards!"

So, thank you, Gary. If not in person but in spirit, you'll always be present in my mind.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

This strip of land squeezed between the Sea of Alphatia and the Kerothar Mountains is home to descendants of ancient Antalians, their Alphatian overseers, and the sinister Ogam. Behind the orderly façade of imperial law rages a secret fight for survival.

Marquisate of Azafeth -- Scale: 1 Hex = 8 Miles

This Frislandic dominion is one of the hardest to administrate because of its narrow, nearly-370-miles-long shape and forbidding terrain intersecting its mid-point. In fact, locals perceive three distinct regions. Northern Azafeth centers around the boomtown of Nasta. The southern region, anchored around Zuuldal, includes the Hills of Ygdumma. The midsection lies within the Västmark Shield, a rocky spur of jagged ridges and narrow valleys. Coastal residents don’t think of the hills and mountains in the east as part of the marquisate, for the Ogam dwell there. Townsfolk see the short, swarthy goat herders as little more than beastmen who would enslave and sacrifice them all to their evil gods if given the chance—a belief that isn’t remotely preposterous. Climate along the coast is similar to the one prevailing in real world Glasgow, U.K.—cool and rainy. Winds generally blow from the west, and a mild sea current flows from the south. Temperatures drop rapidly in the mountains.

I
grew up in France (mostly), England, Morocco, Washington DC, and Texas. I speak mostly French and English, with a little Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Returning to Nice for my education, I graduated from the lycée hotelier in 1977; I got passionately interested in wargames when I was attending the Lycée ... primarily in Avalon Hill games like Kriegspiel, Luftwaffe, Third Reich, and Panzer Leader
— the classics. There were, of course, no French editions of these
games at the time, so I had to learn the American versions. I loved to travel, so I studied hotel management and worked as a concierge in both France and California.

While living in San Francisco I discovered the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and when I returned to Paris I joined my first regular Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) group. I started writing articles on D&D and AD&D for French gaming magazine Casus Belli, and there learned that TSR
was looking for someone to translate the games into French. Well, I
spoke and wrote both languages, and I knew the games, so a request reached Gary Gygax.
By a coincidence, he was just about to come to Paris on business, and
so we set up a meeting. I must have done OK, because he offered me the
job. After a few months of doing translation work in Nice, TSR requested I move to the home office in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. For a sun-loving Mediterranean like me, Wisconsin in February was a bit of a shock.

After working for two years as a translator, I transferred to TSR's Games Division in July
1985 as an Acquisitions Coordinator, in charge of contracting
freelance writers. I also did game design, including adventure
modules CM7, Tree of Life; M1, Into the Maelstrom; and co-authorship of DL12, Dragons of Faith.

I worked on a number of products for the basic Dungeons & Dragons game, including writing the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" series for Dragon magazine, a monthly feature that lasted about three years, as well as other products for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. I was the Basic D&D line Product Manager for years, during which the beloved D&D Gazetteers and the Rules Cyclopedia were published. I also worked at TSR as the director of production planning and head of games acquisitions.

My son Noel came to this world when TSR went bankrupt. One of the outcomes of the happy event in my life was that I could not follow my colleagues to Renton, Wa, at WotC, which had salvaged most of TSR's creative team. My writing years went on hiatus while I explored other avenues. After some time at US Web near Milwaukee and United Airlines at O'Hare, I'm now back in Wisconsin to re-invent myself and do what I really want to do! This now includes the creation of the World of Calidar.